The International CES show in Las Vegas put branding on the main stage on Wednesday.

The "Brand Matters" keynote focused on the social media aspects of marketing. Moderated by Michael Kassan, chairman and CEO of MediaLink, the keynote began with a one-on-one with Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com. Benioff discussed social marketing, the explosion of consumption and sharing of content thanks to the proliferation of wireless. “The mobile revolution has taken over everything,” said Benioff. “When you walk the show floor like I did yesterday, you see in real-time that everything is connected.”

The keynote then broke into a panel discussion with executives from AT&T, American Express, Coca-Cola and Unilever to explore the magic of unlocking a brand. As CNBC noted, Benioff quipped: "It's amazing that a software professional is on a panel with CMOs; that's never before happened at CES," Benioff said, chalking it up to a shift in CMOs' spending. "These marketers are going to spend more on technology than their Chief Information Officer counterparts in a very short amount of time."

The Brand Matters SuperSession (watch above) then focused on how consumers are really engaging with digital media.

"It is easier than ever for brands to communicate to the consumer, but it is increasingly more difficult to have engagement from the consumer. Gen Y tends to care more about their own personal brand than a company’s brand, so to engage with the individual, the brand must promote the individual’s brand. Six Gen Y consumers discussed their use for social media and their outlooks on issues such as privacy, company response on complaints and advertising on social platforms.

Representatives from Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube and Amazon discussed how they thought brands could engage with consumers on their platforms. The shift from desktops to mobile has forced the platforms to adapt to their consumers’ needs and expectations. The representatives from the multiple platforms agreed that to have successful brand engagement, the brand must have a strong and consistent voice and personality. They must also utilize multiple platforms and individualize their engagement to the individual as much as possible."